Corn husker



Dec. 2, 1952 w. T. BOND CORN HUSKER Filed Jan. 5, 1950 no so 0939" 2SHEETS-SHEET 1 WILLIAM IN VEN TOR.

T. B 0ND.

ATTORNEY Dec. 2, 1952 BOND 2,619,967

CORN HUSKER Filed Jan. 5, 1950 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 INVENTOR. WILLIAM T.BOND ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 2, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention pertains to corn pickers of a type in which ears of cornsnapped from the stalks in a field are delivered to and passed through ahusk stripping bed or mechanism comprising cooperating sets of metal andspiralled rubber rolls rotating in opposite directions with the surfaceof the spiralled rubber rolls above the surfaces of the metal rolls.

In my co-pending application, Serial No. 709,594, filed November 13,1946, now U. S. Patent No. 2,510,542 I have described and claimed amechanism comprising a plurality of spiralled distributors or angeringdevices mounted transversely of the bed above the husking rolls toinsure the even distribution of the corn in the husking bed and itsmovement lengthwise of the bed toward the discharge end.

My present invention pertains to certain improvements in the spiralleddistributors of the aforesaid application for increasing the efiiciencyand life of the mechanism.

Field operation of the picker equipped with the invention of my pendingapplication above referred to has disclosed the fact that the load putupon the augering devices where the yield of corn is especially heavywill result in excessive wear upon the advancing faces of the augeringdevices, and that ears of corn may be jammed between the side of the bedand the adjacent husking roll, thus preventing efiicient operation ofthe husking mechanism.

As the corn is delivered from the snapping rolls to the husking bed, itis immediately engaged by the husking rolls, with the result that themovement of the corn, as urged by the spiral rubber husking rolls, is,in general, toward one side of the husking bed, and the ends of theaugering devices adjacent this side of the bed are very heavily loadedin the initial movement of the corn through the bed.

One of the objects of my present invention is to provide means topositively engage and move the ears away from the side of the bedwithout crushing them, and to increase the strength and resistance towear and breakage at the ends of the angering devices subjected to theheaviest load in the operation of the device.

Another object of this invention is to improve the construction of thetabs upon the advancing faces of the spirals to increase theirresistance 4 to abrasion and to constant flexing.

Other objects of the invention deal with details of construction andorganization of parts to eliminate wearand increase the efiiciency ofoperation of the device.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig.1 is a top plan view of a husking bed embodying the features of thisinvention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view with a side of the husking bedcontainer broken away to show the ends of the feeding devices.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view in perspective of the container with theangering mechanism, and

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of one of the tabs.

The corn picker in which the improvements constituting the features ofthis invention are embodied is a nationally known commercial device.

In this picker, pickup noses, housing a plurality of picker chains,gather and feed the corn stalks onto snapper rolls, which snap the earsfrom the stalks and feed them to a conveyor, which delivers them througha hopper to the husking bed. The husking bed over which the corn earspass delivers the husked ears to an elevator conveyor which in turndelivers them to a pickup carrier.

The husking mechanism with which this invention is particularlyconcerned comprises three metal rolls l1 and three spiralled rolls [8mounted in alternate relation so that one metal roll and one rubber rollconstitute a cooperating pair. The top surfaces of the rubber rolls I"!are elevated above the top surfaces of the metal rolls I8. All of therubber rolls are driven in a clockwise direction, as viewed from thelower or discharge end, and all of the metal rolls are driven in acounterclockwise direction as viewed from the same position.

As a result of the directional rotation of the two sets of rolls, andthe fact that the top sur faces of the rubber rolls are elevated abovethe upper surfaces of the metal rolls, the rotation of the rubber rollswill tend to displace the ears of corn toward one side of the huskingbed which, in the illustration, will be toward the right-hand side, asviewed from the lower end of the husking bed.

In order to prevent excessive pile up of the corn against the right sideof the bed which would result in excessive wear upon the rubber rollsadjacent that side of the bed, there is provided a feeding mechanismadapted to engage and move the corn in opposition to the lateralmovement resulting from the action of the rubber rolls. This feedingmechanism comprises a plurality of spiral metal blades 25, 26 and 21,mounted upon shafts 28, 29 and 30, which extend transversely of andabove the husking rolls, and are positively driven in engagement withthe corn in a direction tending to move it from the right to theleft-hand side of the bed, as well as down the bed.

The shaft 28 is rotatably supported in bearin brackets 3| adjustablysupported in side members 20 and 2! of a metal housing 24. The shafts 29and 30 are rotatably supported between frame plates 35 and 36-, theupper ends of which are journaled upon the shaft 28. The lower ends ofthe frame plates 35 and 36 are connected together by an invertedU-shaped tie member comprising legs 38 and a cross-member 40.

Lug M are secured to the outer faces of each leg 38 to receive threadedbolts 43, the heads of which rest upon the upper edges of the sidemembers 20 and 2! of the container. The bolts may be secured in adjustedpositions by lock nuts 44, one upon each side of the lugs 41. Adjustmentof the bolts 43 will control the height of the lower end of the feedingunit with respect to the ends of the husking rolls.

The right-hand ends of the shafts 28, 29 and 30, looking toward thedischarge end of the husking unit, are extended through slots 41, 4 6and S9 in the side members 2| of the housing 2%. A cogwheel 52, which issecured to the extending end of the shaft 28 beyond the housing side 2!,is connected by a chain to the main driving shaft of the picker. Asecond cogwheel 53, mounted on the shaft 28, beyond the cogwheel 52, ischain connected with a cogwheel 54 mounted upon the outer end of theshaft 29. The shaft 29 drives the shaft 30 through a chain connectedwith the cogwheels 55 and 56 on the shafts 29 and 33, respectively. Thecogwheel 53, on the shaft 28, is approximately one-half the diameter ofthe cogwheel 54, on the shaft 29, thus producing a differential speedratio of about two to one between the shaft 28 and the shafts 29 and 39.

The spiral blade 25, adjacent the input end of the husking unit, mustmove all of the corn from the picker and away from the side of the bedas fast as it is delivered to the husking bed to prevent pile up of thecorn and clogging of the mechanism, and unless it is very rugged, theresistance of a heavy load will strain and distort the advancing cornerof the blade 25 to a point where it may be deformed or broken at the endadjacent the side toward which the rubber rolls l8 tend to urge thecorn.

In'this invention, a heavy steel rod 88, circular in cross-section, isWelded to the periphery of the blade 25, and the end of the rod isbrought out beyond the advance corner of the blade in the form of aspiral loop 69 lying close to the inside face of the container sidemember 2| with its end bent inwardly to lie along the surface of theshaft 28 to which it is Welded. The spiral loop 69 of heavy steel rodprovides a guard and moving element for the advancing edge of the spiralblade 25, which is sufiiciently rugged and close enough to the side andbottom of the bed effectively to move, without crushing it, any quantityof corn which may be accumulated against the side of the bed by actionof those portions of the rubber husking rolls is between the upper endof the husking bed and the active face of the spiral blade 25.

A reinforcing and propelling element for the advance corner of thespiral blade 26 may comprise a short loop ll of heavy steel rod,circular in cross-section, attached by welding at one end to the upperedge of the blade 26, and extending inwardly-along the edge-for a shortdistance, as

indicated at 12. The opposite end of the loop H is bent around andattached to the advancing face of the blade 26 about midway of itsedges, as indicated at 13. A plurality of tabs or extensions 15, offlexible material of a composition which will not abrade the surfaces ofthe corn kernels, are secured to the edges of each of the spiral blades26 and 21, forming extensions of their spiral surfaces. A materialsuitable for this purpose is shown in cross-section in Fig. 4, andcomprises a facing layer 16 of soft rubber backed by two reinforcinglayers 11 of a fabric such as canvas or duck. These tabs are secured tothe spiral blades with the rubber layer 16 faced in the advancingdirection of the spirals. The rubber facing 16 is highly resistant tothe abrasive effects of the surface of the ear of corn and withstandsthe constant flexing to which it is subjected as it engages the corn.The life of the fabric backing 11 is prolonged due to the fact that itis not subjected to the abrasive effects of the grain. The result isthat the life of the tabs of this construcion is much longer than thatof tabs constructed of a material in Which the fabric is exposed tocontact with the grain, as was the case of the belting material of myprevious structure.

Two of the tabs 15 are secured to the advance end of the spiral blade25, and these tabs are contoured by removing the material at the outercorners, as are the first two tabs 15 on the advance end of the spiralblade 26, as indicated at 89. Due to the differences in the speeds ofrotation of the spirals 25 and 26, these end tabs on the spirals will bebrought into coincidence at every sixth revolution of the spiral 25, andthe contouring of these tabs prevents interference and wear on the tabs.

Rigid and extensive use in the field of a picker equipped with theimprovements of this invention have demonstrated that the spiralledfeeding devices equipped with the reinforcing loops at the corners willsuccessfully move the heaviest crop without injury to the engagingsurface of the spiral feeding devices, and that the improved tabs withthe rubber facing will materially prolong the useful life of these tabs.

Although I have shown and described my invention with respect to certaindetails of construction, I do not wish to be unduly limited thereto,certain modifications being possible without departing from the spiritor scope of my invention.

I claim:

For use with a corn husking bed having longitudinal side walls and aplurality of sets of husking rolls mounted in side by side relationlongitudinally of the bed, each set comprising a metal roll and aspiraled surface rubber roll mounted in contacting relationshiplongitudinally of the container with the top surface of the rubber rollextending above the top surface of the metal roll and said metal andrubber rolls being rotated in opposite directions whereby corn cars willtend to be displaced laterally by the rubber rolls toward one side ofthe bed, the improvements comprising a plurality of helicalsurfaced'rotating feeding elements disposed transversely of the huskingbed in longitudinally spaced relation between the reoeiving anddischarge ends thereof, means for rotating all of said helical surfacesin a direction to urge the corn laterally toward the other side of thehusking bed, anda. reinforcing and stiffening rod of circularcrosssection .attached to the peripheral edge of the helical sur facedfeeding element adjacent the receiving end of the bed and provided inits end adjacent to the said one side of the husking bed with a spiralloop projecting ahead of the advance end of the particular feedingelement and disposed to rotate in a path in close proximity to said oneside of the husking bed.

WILLIAM T. BOND.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

6 UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Woodman Dec. 22, 1896 SwarthoutNov. 21, 1899 Madsen Aug. 7, 1900 Richards Aug. 12, 1902 Baird June30,1908 Gauntt Mar. 12, 1918 Raney et a1 Oct. 4, 1932 Anderson et a1Aug, 1, 1939 Kuhlman Nov. 21, 1939 Bailey Apr. 18, 1950 Bond June 6,1950

